It's a thing and official games have done it. The last trainer in the route is supposed to be a mini boss who is harder than the rest, so that is the case. That trainer is harder than the rest, but isn't nearly as hard as you're making it out to be. It's still an RPG, so you could just grind. I'd rather not list specific examples, but I've seen popular hacks with a lot more grinding than this.

I'm flattered that you wanted to make a strategy guide, though! The hack really is flawed, and you're not the first person to ragequit, either. I'm leaving this hack as it is, though. I'm actually working on a new project at the moment (extremely early stages of development, so a topic might not go up for months!), so this hack is just forever "unpolished but finished". I promise that I'll try to make any future hacks of mine good from a critical perspective however, so you have that to look forward to!

I think my main frustration is because I already save-stated at the battle; the good news is I have an old save state, but the thing I do not recall (I should check) is whether the older state has Totodile or not. If it does, I may re-evaluate what Furret is weak to (Fighting, which coincidentally is my starter, which was in my PC of all places) and give it a go knowing that Mankey will knock it out while it's resting.

What are all the Pokémon in there? I'm still working on Soul Silver and not doing hacks as much ATM, but when the 3DS is charging I am looking at hacks. Took a glance at Light Platinum in fact and am surprised there is a free Elekid already captured lying around (which gets your trainer ID to boot). Things like that which can be done with a hack are interesting.

I did figure out the difference in the desert tiles, as well. So at least I know what tiles to avoid. However, you have a couple of trainer comments that still seem to refer to surfing or something. Maybe I'll load the old state just to look these up.

Cyclone

__________________

"Y'know...my Emolga really wants to shock your Dedenne."

Cyclone. FC: 5327-1949-9511. Safari: Lampent, Pumpkaboo, and Golurk (Ghost). Champion of the GC11 Pokémon Challenge!
Breeder extraordinaire. Horrible battler. I take requests! Looking ahead to SSB3D for even more fun!

Pokémon Black National Pokédex completed on December 13, 2012.My Lv.7 UT Shiny Nincada (Hoenn) is now in Kalos for trade offers.